


Dancing in the Shadows

by Lytri



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chamber of Secrets, Cunning Harry, Grey Harry, M/M, Obsessive Voldemort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possessive Voldemort, Slytherin Harry, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, cynical harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:20:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7753888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lytri/pseuds/Lytri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At having his name chosen from the Goblet of Fire, Harry becomes increasingly depressed at his life.  But a chance meeting with the portrait of Salazar Slytherin brings a new hope to light.  Even if Salazar insisted on trying to play matchmaker for him, Harry will take anything he can get.  But is it truly enough?  Or will Harry finally be crushed by the cruelty of life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dancing in the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> I really can't help but writing another story despite having other works.
> 
>  
> 
> _"Parseltongue"_
> 
>  
> 
> "English"

# Chapter 1

 

With wide, indignant eyes, Harry looked around the Great Hall wildly. His name had just come out of the Goblet, and Harry could just feel the migraine he was going to have from what just happened. He could also feel his infamous temper rising up to the surface and trying to claw its way out. But Harry knew he had to keep calm in his predicament and stamped his rising anger down before it could erupt spectacularly. Scowling, Harry knew he just became undesirable number one.

Eyeing Ron and Hermione carefully, Harry could tell he wasn't going to have any support from his friends either. Looking over at the other tables, he could see the rest of the students whispering and making their protests loudly. They were not happy, all stupidly believing that he could have hoodwinked the Goblet. The Hufflepuffs were especially angry, foregoing any rationality and protesting the most out of the entire hall. Harry, despite his anger, couldn't help but snort at the entire schools stupidity. It was quite laughable that they believed a fourth year student had enough magical prowess to fool a magical artefact such as the Goblet.

“How did you get passed it, mate?” Ron asked with an edge of jealousy in his voice. He had heard Harry's snort and assumed Harry was boasting about getting his name in the Goblet. Harry just wondered how stupid wizards and witches could be, but then decided he didn't really want to know the answer.

“I didn't put my name in it.” Harry said, trying to convey his truthfulness to Ron. But Harry already knew he wouldn't be able to succeed.

“Sure sure, mate,” Ron said. “But don't worry. You can tell me.” Ron brushed off what Harry was saying and just continued to try and get information that didn't exist. Harry couldn't help but mentally groan when Hermione decided to add to Harry's growing headache.

“Harry!” She chastised him. “The tournament is really dangerous!”

“I said I didn't put my name in!” Harry ground out, his temper rising. Hermione stopped bugging him, but she still gave him a look that told him how much she believed him. Ron, however, just wouldn't stop.

Harry couldn't help but sigh in relief when he was told to go to where the other champions were. Standing up and ignoring the stares and whispers, Harry walked out the Great Hall and to where the champions were gathered. Entering the room, the champions along with their respective headmasters looked at him.

“Yes?” Fleur asked. “Did ‘ou need somezing?” Harry just kept quiet, letting Bagman answer for him.

“He is the fourth champion,” Bagman said.

“Vat?” Victor asked. “The fourth champion?”

“What is the meaning of this?” Karkaroff exclaimed. His face was set in an angry frown as he turned to look at Dumbledore.

“Yes,” Maxime agreed while looking at Dumbledore as well. “I would like to know that as well.”

“Well,” Dumbledore started. “His name came out of the Goblet of Fire,” He explained and then looked at Harry. Taking him aside, Dumbledore was giving him a false sense of privacy in order to get him to confess. “Did you put your name in?” He asked Harry.

“No.” Harry said firmly, tired from having to deflect accusations.

“‘E could be lying!” Fleur exclaimed.

“Well,” Dumbledore said while turning to face the other Headmasters. “We only have his word, I'm afraid. And it really doesn't matter anyway. Harry is magically bound to compete, or he forfeits his magic.” Harry sent a poisonous glare at Dumbledore’s back, thinking of creative ways to use a rusty spoon on him.

“Then I demand we have a second champion as well!” Karkaroff demanded with Maxime agreeing right after. They were both unhappy with the situation and were wondering what Britain was up to.

“We can't do that,” Dumbledore said. “It only lets out names once for each tournament.” He explained and received a glare from the two.

Being left with the champions, Harry nervously shuffled his feet. He had been practically left for the wolves by Dumbledore. Looking at each of the champions faces, he could see anger from the two foreign ones. Looking at Cedric, Harry could tell he was like the rest of the school and believed Harry had put his name in. Scowling, Harry's fine control over his emotions finally snapped.

“I don't know who the bigger idiot is!” Harry yelled. “You bloody fools for believing me—a fourth year—could get passed the magical wards put up by my Headmaster or myself for putting up with all this nonsense every year!” With a glare at all of them, Harry turned around and stormed off, not even waiting to see the others reaction.

It was during Snape's class that he was once again called to meet with the other champions. Thankful for getting out of Snape's class but also angry that he had to see the other champions again, Harry was being led to where he was supposed to go before sneakily ditching his escort, completely blowing off whatever he was needed for. Not knowing where to hide, Harry finally decided to hell with it and quickly headed towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Before entering, Harry kneeled down and opened his bag. Grabbing his invisibility cloak, Harry snuck in, carefully scanning the place for Moaning Murtle. Hearing the crying in one of the stalls, Harry cast a silencing charm and hissed in parseltongue, hoping his luck would hold out and she wouldn't notice anything.

 _“Open,”_ he hissed in parseltongue quietly. The entrance opened and Harry walked forward so he was just standing at the ledge. _“Close.”_ he hissed and jumped off the ledge, the entrance closing behind him and shrouding him in darkness.

Bringing out his wand, Harry cast a _lumos_ and looked around. The place looked just how it did the last time, the long tunnel leading to where he stayed the basilisk. Continuing to walk, Harry continued on through the tunnels and looked up at the basilisk. Looking at it now, Harry couldn't help but feel regret at killing the great snake. It was only following orders, not truly having the wish to kill him.

Passing the snake, Harry walked passed the snake and approached below the entrance it had come from, looking at the statue of Salazar Slytherin. Looking away from it and around the rest of the chamber, Harry contemplated if there was anything else down the chamber. Surely Salazar would have something other than a basilisk down in the chamber. It didn't make much sense if he never took advantage of such a large space for other activities. Racking his brain, Harry tried to think where he might have hidden it. It took him a bit, but then he remembered what the diary Tom had said.

 _“Speak to me, Salazar, greatest of the Hogwarts four.”_ Harry spoke, hoping that his hunch was right.

Sure enough, the sound of moving stones could be heard. The left wall was opening up to reveal an entrance and stones were rising up from the water and creating a path. Warily, Harry stepped onto the path, testing for any hidden traps. At nothing happening, Harry continued down the path no less wary. At reaching the entrance, Harry poked his head in and looked side to side. Finding nothing to be amiss, he stepped in the room and took a better look at the inside.

It was a spacious study room with a work desk and piles upon piles of books. Most books were actually on the floor or the desk than the book shelves that occupied the place. It was messy, but it was an organised type of messy. And to the side was a painting of Salazar Slytherin himself, with the actual words _Salazar Slytherin Himself_ written below the painting. But he didn't seem to be a magical painting, as he was just regality standing there with his eyes wide open, still as can be. Dismissing the painting as nothing to be concerned about, Harry turned to the books.

Turning towards the desk, Harry pulled the chair out, the screeching noise as it was scraping across the floor making Harry wince. Sitting down, Harry gripped the edges of the chair and scooted the chair closer to the desk, producing more of that dreadful noise. Grabbing the closest book at hand, Harry opened looked at the title of it. _Déaþscúa Bealucræft_ was the title. Utterly confused, Harry opened the book only to be met with more foreign words. Snapping the book shut with a huff Harry placed it back down.

Searching through the books, Harry found one book written in squiggly lines. Picking it up, he made a little happy dance in his head when he found he could read it. He didn't really know how, but there would be no complaints from him. The title of the book was _The Forbidden Arts: Sensation Control_. Instantly becoming interested, Harry opened the book.

_There are many magics forbidden in our society. The many arts that are forbidden are out of fear and a need to control the masses, but that is not truly forbidden magic. The truly forbidden arts are the ones that magic herself will protest against. And unlike what many or even you might believe, there is no correlation with dark magic that makes an art forbidden. No, the reason magic becomes forbidden is unknown to us all, but that does not matter. You will know what magic is forbidden. There is, however, ways to learn and use forbidden magics. But at a price. There is always a price._

_One such forbidden magic that can be learnt is Sensation Control. It is a formidable magic and absolutely terrifying in the wrong hands. Like the name implies, it controls the senses. What makes it so dangerous is that one can tamper with a human being easily. It can even drive a person to madness. Sensation Control allows a person to control another's senses. They can tamper with sight, smell, touch, taste, emotion, and many other senses. But the catch is that each person only has one sense they can control, and only very few have the ability to unlock such powers. Unfortunately, those who do weird such powers are very secretive. They will not teach any outsiders. But the information about—_

_“Who are you?”_ the portrait of Salazar asked, interrupting Harry's reading and making him jump. _“You are not a direct descendent, so how is it that you speak parseltongue and know parselscript?”_

Turning, Harry looked up at the portrait. “Who?” Harry asked while pointing at himself. “Me?” Harry feigned ignorance.

 _“Yes, you!”_ Salazar exclaimed. _“Who else? There's no one but you here!”_ There was a rather dubious look on Salazar's face.

“Well, how was I supposed to know?” Harry shrugged. “You could of been talking to a ghost or something for all I knew.”

 _“Don't play stupid with me!”_ Salazar hissed extra menacingly.

“I'm not!” Harry told him with innocent eyes and his hands raised up. “It's an honestly valid point with all the ghosts floating around Hogwarts!”

 _“You were trying to avoid the last question!”_ Salazar told Harry. _“So tell me. How is it that you speak the serpent's tongue?”_ Salazar asked again.

“Ah, fine.” Harry conceded. “I can't actually speak the serpent's tongue. I can read and understand it, sure, but I can't speak it.” Harry explained seriously, completely lying right to Salazar's face.

 _“How is it that you entered this room, then?”_ Salazar probed, not believing Harry's lie. _“Only a parselmouth could enter this room.”_

“Well. That's simple enough,” Harry started. “I used a snake for that. Some are intelligent enough to understand English, of course.” Looking straight into Salazar's eyes, Harry tried to convey that he was perfectly honest.

 _“You know,”_ Salazar said with an impressed look. _“If I was anyone other than myself, I would have believed everything you said. But I'm not, and I know that the entrance can only be opened by a human parselmouth.”_

“Bloody technicalities,” Harry looked down and muttered. “What's the difference between a human speaking parseltongue and a snake speaking it?” Looking back up, Harry admitted to his lying. _“Alright, alright. You caught me.”_

 _“I'm glad to see that my house has not been filled with incompetent fools.”_ Salazar said with a smug smirk.

 _“Ah,”_ Harry said apologetically. _“Sorry to burst your bubble but I'm a Gryffindor.”_ Harry admitted, making Salazar to look at him incredulously.

 _“A Gryffindor!?”_ He said in shock. _“How did you get in Godric's house of all houses?”_

 _“Did you know you could convince the hat with enough pestering?”_ Harry answered.

 _“You…pestered the hat into putting you in your opposite house?”_ Salazar asked before muttering to himself. _“Did the enchantments wear off after so many years?”_

 _“Ah, yeah. I don't really know how I did it either.”_ Harry admitted a little sheepishly.

“Hmm,” Salazar made a noise, thinking over what could have made the hat do such a thing. _“Merlin! You are quite good, diverting me from the matter at hand. Will you explain it to me now?”_

“What can you do for me in return?” Harry asked, knowing that Salazar should have something up his sleeves despite the fact he was only a portrait.

 _“I wish you were in my house,”_ Salazar admitted before answering. _“I could teach how to wield the power the book talks about. If you have an affinity, that is. Otherwise I will teach you something else.”_ At Salazar's offer, Harry paused in consideration. He was very attracted to that particular branch of magic despite only just reading of it. But he was also suspicious, as shown by him giving Salazar a wary look. His offer was far from equal to Harry's information.

 _“What else would I have to do for you to be taught by you?”_ Harry asked, knowing that there must be some other catch.

 _“I want you to restore Tom Riddle's soul.”_ Salazar said.

 _“You want me to do what?”_ Harry asked both in incredulity and confusion. He had no idea why Voldemort's soul needed to be restored.

Sighing, Salazar went to explain what he meant. _“Do you know what a horcrux is?”_

 _“A…horcrux?”_ Harry asked. _“What is a horcrux?”_

 _“So you don't know,”_ Salazar concluded. _“A horcrux is…well, it is one of the forbidden magics. It is an abomination.”_

 _“One of the truly forbidden magics?”_ Harry asked just to make sure.  
  
_“Yes,”_ Salazar confirmed. _“It comes from soul magic. What happens is that a person splits their soul in half. This ensures that if the person were to die, they could come back by using the other part of their separated soul. It is a form of immortality, but not true immortality. Performing this once is not the issue, as many powerful wizards and witches have done it before in the past. The issue arises when it comes to splitting your soul more than once. It affects the very mind and magic. It takes very little for a person's magic to start deteriorating, and even less for one to fall to madness. And Tom, my foolish foolish heir, has split his soul more than three times as I know it. And I suspect he has split it even more after that.”_

 _“Is that why he's completely mad?”_ Harry asked. _“Surely, when he had no horcruxes, he would have known the consequences?”_

 _“He did, but Tom was terrified of death. He did not want to die, so he sought immortality. But his paranoia got the better of him, and he thought that just one horcrux was not nearly enough. The last time he visited me, he had made his third horcrux, and he had already fallen to madness,”_ Salazar explained to Harry. _“What I am asking of you is to restore his soul. I know it is too late for his entire all of his sanity to be restored, but enough can be to ensure he is at least somewhat more rational. I know for a fact that what he stays for now is not what he wanted before he started horcruxes.”_

 _“I see,”_ Harry said and put his hand up to his mouth, contemplating whether or not he should accept the bargain. He really didn't care about dark or light. He didn't even hold a grudge against Voldemort. He more so put up a front of fighting for the light disliking anything even close to dark magic. His core was grey. He would use light and dark magic when he knew he could get away with it. And with those thoughts in mind, Harry made his decision. _“I accept. But I want a vow out of this.”_

 _“Of course,”_ Salazar agreed with nod of his head, immensely relieved that Harry had accepted. _“But I will need your name.”_

Blushing, Harry was startled by the fact that he never had given his own name. _“Harry James Potter.”_

 _“Potter?”_ Salazar asked. _“I am not familiar with that name. Are you perhaps a muggleborn?”_

 _“Halfblood, actually.”_ Harry answered. _“My family could have just not been as old as you are.”_ Harry said, making a jab at Salazar's age.

 _“Don't be a brat.”_ Salazar said.

_“Aww, but someone has to.”_

_“Were we not in the middle of exchanging vows?”_ Salazar changed the topic.

 _“You make it sound like we're getting married.”_ Harry said.

 _“Yes, whatever you say, child,”_ Salazar said. _“Now, for the vow. I, Salazar Slytherin, hereby swear upon my existence to teach Harry James Potter Sensation Control magic or another branch of magic should he not hold an affinity for it if Harry James Potter will restore Tom Marvolo Riddle's soul. So I swear it, so mote it be.”_ Salazar vowed, golden strings entwining up his picture frame before disappearing. He had also deliberately left out Harry requiring to explain  
his parseltongue ability to him.

Shooting Salazar a suspicious look, having caught what he did, Harry said his own oath. _“I, Harry James Potter, hereby swear upon my life to restore Tom Marvolo Riddle's soul if Salazar Slytherin teaches me Sensation Control magic or another branch of magic should I not hold an affinity for it. So I swear it, so mote it be.”_ Golden strings entwined into his hand and crawled up his arm before disappearing as well. At the sealing of the deal, Harry couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief. He was less on edge now that he had some security that Salazar would hold up his end of the bargain. Though, he hoped Salazar never found out that he wouldn't mind dying if the time came for it.

 _“Now,”_ Harry started. _“Before I start to piece Tom's soul back, do you think you could help me survive the Triwizard Tournament? Can't do anything if I'm dead.”_ He asked.

 _“Of course,”_ Salazar said before backing up and asking a question. _“What is it?”_

It was Harry's turn to sigh this time. _“It is a tournament held between three schools, each one having their own champion. This time, however, there was a fourth champion, that being me. The tournament consists of three tasks that are usually life threatening, as seen by the history of the tournament and the death toll from past tournaments.”_ Harry explained.

 _“You're in quite the predicament,”_ Salazar commented. _“Do you know what the tasks are yet?”_

 _“They don't tell you the tasks,”_ Harry told him. _“But, if you were to say…teach me occlumency and legilimency, I'm sure I could find them out.”_

 _“Sneaky, very sneaky,”_ Salazar told him. _“Alright. But you're going to have to be extremely diligent if you're going to learn it in a short amount of time. You won't be a master at it, that will come later, but you'll know enough to get the information you need.”_

 _“I wouldn't expect anything less.”_ Harry told Salazar with an excited tone. He was extremely happy he could learn the two. Especially occlumency ever since he found out Snape and Dumbledore were legilimens.

 _“Good,”_ Salazar said. _“The first task I want you to do is meditate. You don't have to clear your mind, that is too advanced, but I want you to control your thoughts. I want you to practice that every chance you get until I say you can stop.”_

 _“Um,”_ Harry said in hesitation while biting his bottom lip. _“How do you meditate?”_

Salazar sighed in exasperation. _“Follow my instructions,”_ Salazar ordered. _“I will keep you here until you are successful.”_

 _“Okay.”_ Harry agreed without knowing what he was getting into.

 _“Good. Now close your eyes and relax. You can do this either standing or sitting, but it is best for you to sit when you're a beginner,”_ Nodding his head, Harry sat down onto the floor and closed his eyes. _“Now slow your breathing and keep it even,”_ Obeying, Harry slowed his breathing, but his breath became stuttered. _“I said keep your breathing even!”_

 _“I'm trying!”_ Harry said in frustration. _“It's just not working!”_

 _“Okay, then try this. I want you to breath in through your nose for three seconds,”_ Salazar said. _“And after that I want you to breath out through your mouth for six seconds.”_ Nodding his head, Harry tried what Salazar suggested. He was still a little shaky for the first few tries, but he finally got the hang of it on the fifth try.

 _“Good,”_ Salazar said, satisfied for the time being. _“Now I want you to imagine the place you feel the most comfortable in. Imagine it in your mind,”_ Waiting a few moments, Salazar continued. _“Do you have it in your mind?”_ Harry nodded his head yes. _“Is some of it blurry and missing certain pieces to it?”_ Harry nodded his head yes once more. _“Good, good. I want you to continue what you have learned until your place is as tangible as it is in the real world.”_

Harry sat there for a long time before he had succeeded, but he was immensely satisfied with the results. It was not perfect, but it was great progress in Harry's mind. Opening his eyes once more, Harry was met with the mirthful eyes of Salazar. It greatly reminded him of Dumbledore's twinkling eyes, making Harry shiver in fear, knowing that nothing good could come out of Salazar’s mirth.

 _“That is enough. Now you should go back. You have been in my company for more than a few hours.”_ Salazar said in amusement, smirking at Harry's panicked face.

 _“More than a few hours!?”_ Harry exclaimed before casting a _tempus_. At seeing it was 11:49 at night, Harry quickly ran out of the study and rushed back to the entrance. Looking up, Harry cursed in his head for being so stupid. The entrance was closed and he had no way to get back up. Rushing back to the study, Harry stopped in front of Salazar again.

 _“Back so soon?”_ Salazar asked amused, taking in Harry's rather ruffled appearance.

 _“Do you have a spell to fly or something similar to that?”_ Harry asked. _“I, um, can't get back up.”_ Harry admitted in slight embarrassment as seen by the red flush rising up his cheeks.

Chuckling, Salazar told Harry a simple solution. _“All you have to do is command ‘stairs’ in parseltongue. I might as well add parselmagic to the list as well, considering all the other arts I'll be teaching you.”_

 _“Yes, you might as well,”_ Harry agreed, hardly one for turning down such offers. _“Thank you_ Sal! _I really must be going now,”_ Harry said as a goodbye and ran out of the study once again to the entrance.

“Sal!? _”_ Harry could hear Salazar splutter after him, but by then Harry was already half way down the tunnel, the entrance coming into sight. Chuckling evilly at getting back at Salazar, Harry looked up at where the entrance was.

 _“Stairs,”_ he commanded and watched in fascination as the wall rumbled and stairs emerged from it. Bringing up one foot, he prodded at the first step, not one to be blindingly trusting of anyone, never mind the Slytherins. At seeing that the stair wasn't going to give in anytime soon, Harry started to ascend the stairs. _“Open.”_ he hissed once he reached the top, the entrance opening once more to reveal Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.

Poking his head out, Harry looked side to side for any sight of the ghost, all the while sighing in relief that the silencing charm was still up and working. Seeing that she was not out of her stall, Harry placed his invisibility cloak on and commanded to entrance to close. Terminating the charm, Harry quietly tiptoed out of the bathroom. Relieved at not getting caught, Harry walked down the hall still under his cloak, heading towards the Gryffindor common room. And he would have made it too if he had not removed his invisibility cloak too soon. Walking around a corner, Harry came face to face with Snape.

“And just what do you think you are doing out after curfew after your little disappearing act?” Snape asked scathingly, his infamous glare adorning his face.

 _“Well, um, I can explain?”_ Harry said nervously, not even realising he was speaking parseltongue and making Snape flinch.

“Speak English!” Snape snapped angrily.

 _“What? But I a—”_ Harry started before cutting himself off. He had been speaking in parseltongue for so long with Salazar that he hadn't even realised he was still speaking it. “Oh. Whoops,” Harry exclaimed sheepishly, this time in English, and met the unamused state of Snape. “Well, like I had said before, I can explain?” Harry said, still making it sound more like a question than anything else.

“I'm sure you can,” Snape started. “In detention, that is. Fifty points from Gryffindor, _Potter_ ,” he spat. “You will meet me at my classroom every night for two weeks at eight o'clock sharp for cauldron scrubbing,” Snape ordered and turned around, his robes billowing behind him. “Oh, and Potter?” Snape started while walking away. “You will be doing it the muggle way.” He finished, his figure disappearing into the dark halls.

 


End file.
